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Ringgold: Don’t ‘Quack’ Jokes About Independence Bowl

Buck Ringgold has been a sports reporter for the Times Record since November 2000. He covers high school sports, with an emphasis on the area's Oklahoma high schools. Buck previously was the sports editor of newspapers in Siloam Springs, Kilgore, Texas, and Ville Platte, La., and won several journalism awards at each stop. A native of Ashdown, Ark., Buck is a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville with a bachelor's degree in journalism.

Just when you thought the corporate sponsorship of college football bowl games was already getting out of hand, along comes the Independence Bowl.

The Indy Bowl, played in Shreveport, La., has been in existence since 1976. Believe it or not, it is the 11th oldest bowl game currently in existence.

Jimmy Johnson coached in it when he was at Oklahoma State. Bob Stoops’ inaugural Oklahoma team played there in ‘99. So did Nick Saban’s first Alabama team in ‘07. Saban also took Michigan State there in ‘95, where the Spartans lost to his future employer, LSU. Texas A&M and Mississippi State played probably the most memorable Indy Bowl in history, an offensive shutout played in a blizzard back in 2000.

Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, Arkansas, Oregon, Auburn, Ole Miss, Clemson and Georgia have also been among the schools selected to participate in the Indy Bowl. While it may not be in the most desirable location (best example: In 1996, the winner of the Army-Navy game went to Shreveport, the loser went … to Hawaii) and the stadium seems to be a giant high school facility, the people who run the Independence Bowl and the residents and businesspeople of the area give the game tremendous support.

Another constant the game has seen over the years has been a rotating amount of sponsors. The most famous, of course, was when it was known in the early ’90s as the Poulan-Weed Eater Bowl. To this day, some people still refer to the game as the “Weed Eater Bowl.” It has also been known as the Sanford Independence Bowl, the MainStay Independence Bowl, the PetroSun Independence Bowl and recently, the AdvoCare V100 Bowl.

When AdvoCare dropped its sponsorship, the bowl went looking for a new sponsor. It finally got one, as Duck Commander, the West Monroe, La., based duck hunting company run by the well-known Robertson family, agreed this week to become the bowl’s title sponsor for the next six seasons.

Let’s just say the Duck Commander Independence Bowl may give Poulan-Weed Eater a run for its money as the most interestingly named bowl game in history. The logo has already been unveiled — instead of the patriotic eagle which had been the symbol of the bowl for years, a giant duck dominates the logo.

While there have undoubtedly been numerous jokes made over the new corporate sponsor, the future of the Indy Bowl is a serious matter.

Attendance has fallen in recent years. The last Indy Bowl, played on New Year’s Eve between Boston College and Arizona, was the lowest for the game in nearly 20 years.

It’s probably no coincidence the attendance dwindled ever since the game went from matching up teams from the SEC and Big XII to primarily inviting teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference. The SEC is supposedly back on the Indy Bowl’s radar for the upcoming season, which will help.

And no doubt, it will help the bowl with the financial backing of Duck Commander. Not to mention the presence of the Robertsons, mainly because of the wild popularity of the “Duck Dynasty” TV show. I’m sure several people may come to the next Indy Bowl not to check out the teams but to see if Phil, Willie and Si Robertson will be roaming the sidelines.

The Independence Bowl also hits close to home for me because it was the closest bowl game from my hometown, about an hour and a half from Shreveport. The first Indy Bowl I attended was in 1985 when Minnesota beat Clemson (Lou Holtz had been the Minnesota coach but did not coach in the game as he had just taken the Notre Dame job). I’ve attended several Indy Bowls ever since, the most recent being 2010 when Air Force defeated Georgia Tech.

I’ve heard reports of the Indy Bowl’s demise for decades. But the game continues to go on, I’m sure to the surprise of many.

Even though it now has a funny sounding name, and the logo is a duck instead of an eagle, here’s to a tremendous partnership between Duck Commander and the Independence Bowl. Because the Duck Commander Independence Bowl still sounds better than no Independence Bowl.